Medical equipment for examination of a patient sometimes comprises an examination chair, a stand which supports some of the medical equipment, and a table which supports additional medical equipment. The table is connected to the stand via a series of adjustable arms. An example would be a slit lamp biomicroscope. The slit lamp is an instrument consisting of a high-intensity light source that can be focused to shine as a slit. It is used in conjunction with a microscope. The lamp helps examination by allowing a doctor to look at the anterior segment, or frontal structures of the human eye, which includes the eyelid, sclera, conjunctiva, iris, natural crystalline lens, and cornea. The binocular slit-lamp examination provides stereoscopic magnified view of the eye structures in striking detail, enabling exact anatomical diagnoses to be made for many eye conditions. Combined with special lenses the examination of retinal structures can be accomplished in detail. While a patient is seated in the examination chair, he rests his chin and forehead on a support (chin strap) to steady the head. Using the biomicroscope, the optometrist or opthalmologist then proceeds to examine the patient's eye. The slit lamp is mounted on the table, which is in turn adjustably connected to the stand. This adjustablity allows the doctor to treat patients of varying heights and sizes.
However, known medical equipment stands have several limitations in the range of patients which can be conveniently examined, especially with respect to patients confined to a wheelchair. For example, the table is typically too wide to be placed between the arms of a standard wheelchair. Also, the arms are designed to work with an examination chair which is much higher than standard wheelchairs, and therefore cannot get low enough to examine a patient bound to a wheelchair. Moreover, the arms are attached to the table on the underside of the table near the center of the table, such that the arm partially obstructs area below the table, requiring the table to be raised to clear over a patient's legs, for example. Typically a wheelchair bound patient needs to be lifted out of his wheelchair and moved to a separate examination chair. All of this makes known medical equipment stands inconvenient for wheelchair bound patients. It would be desirable to provide a patient examination assembly which is convenient for essentially all patients, including wheelchair bound patients.